A Lotus Crown For The Golden King
by Liza Taylor
Summary: And thus the previous journey has ended but maybe in this tale the king can be crowned and be with the one he truly cares about. However, even lotuses can have thorns... "This time I refuse to give you up to anyone, no matter what you say. You are mine and mine alone my dear Queen." (Extra/Staynight Crossover, GilgameshXFemale MC)
1. Chapter 1

**Well here we go! First chapter of my GilgameshXHeroine story! ^-^ I'll try to update as fast as possible but if not, winter break is when I'll be churning out chapters left and right for you guys! ^-^ Some notes before you start reading though:**

**1. The events in this story takes place after what happens in Rosemary for a Forgotten Tomorrow(with the parts relating to Gilgamesh. No, you do not have to read that story before this one as it will be explained later on but people who have probably would understand bits of what is going on right away. **

**2. Because it is part of the same "verse", the name for the heroine is not Hakuno but Hikaru so it keeps things consistent.  
**

**I think that covers everything... And finally, personal thanks to The Fox Knight for helping me out with the title among other things! ^-^  
**

* * *

Gilgamesh walked down the street with his hands in the pockets of his pants. He looked around in boredom at humans that went about their business around him. They were all busy in their own worlds. How boring. It was like the Grail War at the moment. So boring. Heck, it hadn't even begun yet.

He passed another street, almost bumping into a human. He made a face as the human hurried past him after a quick glance. It was almost time for him to head back. Tokiomi was such a bore. He wanted to stick by the rules no matter what. That was no fun at all. And to add insult to injury, there was nothing interesting out here. Nothing at all.

Something bumped against his leg. Again!? He looked down in disgust. It was a human girl-child. She had to be around seven years old. Her brown eyes were huge, raw and red. Long brown hair was tied into twin braids. She stared up at him with tears free-flowing down her chubby face.

He curled his nose in disgust. Ugh. Normal humans were horrible, this was even worse. He was about to walk away from the sniveling, disgusting child but something about her stopped him. There was something about this sniveling, crying child that he could not put his finger on that made him kneel to her height. "Stop crying," he snapped.

She rubbed her eyes as she stared at him. "But…but…" she blubbered. "Mommy is missing."

What was with this kid? She was staring at him like she expected him to help her find her mother. Ugh, he wished she would stop staring at him like that. "You need to be a Queen and stop crying," he said as he put his hand on her head. _What the hell am I doing?_ he wondered. "Queens don't cry. They hold their head high. So stop crying!" he finished. He could not think with her making those stupid noises.

The girl nodded and puffed out her chest. The tears were leaking out of the corner of her eyes but she was obviously fighting against any more of them leaking out. "Yeah! I'll be strong! I…I'll be a queen!"

Gilgamesh had to crack a smile at her enthusiasm. "Yes. Just like that." Where was this girl's mother? He stood and looked around but he didn't see anyone that vaguely looked like the little girl by his feet. "Your mother should have been looking after you better." He did not have time for this. Where was this kid's mother?

"Mommy is fine," she protested with a pout. She crossed her arms and stared up at him, straight in the eye. If he hadn't seen a couple of seconds before he would have never known that this girl had been crying a few moments before. "I just wandered away a bit. I can find Mommy again!" She blinked as if she realized something. "Your hair is blond!" Her eyes widened. "You speak Japanese good for someone from far away!"

What in the world was with this kid? He smirked at her and laughed. "I'll have you know, I am Gilgamesh! There is nothing I cannot do."

She giggled. "Giggle-kun!"

Wait what? He stared at the girl. "Did…did you just call me…'Giggle-kun'?" What kind of insult was that?! How dare this little girl call him that!?

"Yeah!" she replied happily, like she could not sense the inner rage tumbling through the golden Servant. "Cause you laugh funny! And you made me stop crying and made me giggle! So you are Giggle-kun!"

He stared down at her. What was with this girl? She was insulting him but at the same time she wasn't at all. She was…interesting. He opened his mouth to ask something else of her but she had turned away, having obviously spotted something.

"Mommy!" The girl ran away from Gilgamesh's side to a young woman who looked almost like her. Her mother said something to her and the girl winced. A grin was on her face though so whatever it was probably wasn't bad. She slipped her hand into her mother's and waved goodbye to Gilgamesh. "Bye Giggle-kun! Thank you!"

He waved goodbye as the mother dipped her head to Gilgamesh before she began dragging her daughter away. She looked back at Gilgamesh. Her eyes never left his crimson ones until mother and daughter turned the corner and was gone.

Gilgamesh put his hands his pockets. That was interesting to say in the least. He turned and headed back to Tokiomi's place.

* * *

"Hikaruuuuu!"

Hikaru jerked forward in her chair. The front of it crashed down as she had been leaning back on it a few moments before. She glared up at her friend, Nagisa, who just giggled in response. "Wow Hikaru. Nice save there."

Hikaru rolled her eyes and got up.

"What in the world are you two doing?" sighed Yumi. She shook her head as she stared at her two best friends. "You're not trying to kill Hikaru again are you?"

"Of course not!" protested Nagisa. "I would never do something like that. Class just ended. It would be a shame to kill her now! Anyway, Hikaru, there's a new cake shop that opened downtown. You wanna go?"

Hikaru shook her head and gave her friends the most apologetic look she could muster. "Not today guys. I have things to do."

"Ahh man, are you having private lessons again tonight?" whined Nagisa. "You haven't been able to hang out with us in the past couple of days!"

"Come on Nagisa, don't get sour. Hikaru is busy." Yumi grabbed Nagisa's arm and tugged her away. "Don't worry. I'll take care of her. You just focus on your studies."

"Why does she need to take private lessons about English and other boring stuff like that? We learn about it in school!" whined Nagisa as she was dragged out of the classroom.

Hikaru rolled her eyes again. If only it was actually that. She put away her schoolbooks and got to her feet. She bid farewell to various people in the classroom before she headed outside. She almost bumped into Rin Tohsaka as she stepped out of the doorway.

"Sorry," Hikaru said quickly to the girl that transferred only a couple days before.

"It's alright," replied Rin with a flip of her hair as she walked past Hikaru with not another word. Tohsakas. Just because they were a great magus house they thought they were all that and the most important people in the world.

Hikaru walked in the opposite direction of Rin and headed for the stairs to the first floor. After grabbing her shoes at the shoe locker, she headed out into the city. She hated having to lie to Yumi and Nagisa but they had no idea that she was a magus of the Kishinami household. She wasn't heading back home now though.

For the past couple of days she had been sensing that something was wrong in the city. There were odd prana spikes every now and then along with multiple gas leaks and many deaths. She _knew_ they were not caused by gas. There was something magical going on in the city and she needed to get to the bottom of whatever it was for her own curiosity's sake. It was times like this she wished her aunt had magic circuits. Hikaru hated being out of the loop in the magus world but what other choice did she have? She was not going to abandon Aunt Nomi now. All it would take to find out the answer was a bit of leg work. At least, that's what she thought a couple days ago.

With that thought in mind she headed for an office building a quick train ride away that had been on the news that morning. When she was near the building she saw police tape surrounding the area. Police officers were scattered along the perimeter. Thankfully she was not the only one curious to what had happened. The last one she had visited, she had been the only person there and the police had been watching her the whole time she was there with an evil eye.

She walked into the crowd and began focusing on the prana in the area. She picked up on residual prana from the night before. It was different than the previous incident. It was hard for her to explain in words how it was different. She just _knew_ it was.

Following the prana, she walked away from the scene and headed down the street. However, like so many times before the signature disappeared before long. "Damn it," she snapped before backing up a few steps to catch the signature again. Once she found it, she followed it again.

Again.

Disappeared in the same spot. She stomped a foot against the ground in frustration. How many times did this make? Ten? Why do the prana signatures keep disappearing? It couldn't have been due to her limited ability. Then why?

"What could cause this?" she murmured to herself. Again she wished her aunt was in the magus world more. She pushed the thought away. No. That was not fair to Aunt Nomi. She was doing her best to raise Hikaru. She could not be blamed for Hikaru's lack of skill. She just needed to get stronger!

Suddenly the air seemed to feel heavy. She paused as she began tracking the signature. It was different than the signatures she had felt before but it was similar at the same time. And what got her even excited that this was not a trail for her to follow but something happening right now. Whatever was the source of this prana signature was active somewhere close by.

She didn't even need to think as she began running. She followed the prana through a residential district. Her legs began to ache and she reinforced them until they stopped aching. The source paused in certain locations but whatever it was just kept on moving. She still couldn't exactly pinpoint the location. She needed to get closer. The range was still too wide.

Thankfully, the more she ran, the closer she was getting to whatever it was. The range was reducing drastically and she quickened her pace. Close! She was so close!

The moon was rising and the lampposts turned on before she finally reached some sort of destination.

Panting, she rested her hands on her knees as she looked up at the huge church in front of her. The prana source was coming from inside it, she was sure of it. After she caught her breathe she stood and walked to the front door. She rested her hand on the door and hesitated. Was this a good idea? Should she really want to try to get to the bottom of the mystery of the prana?

She shook her head. No. She vowed to herself to find out. There was no backing out now.

She slapped herself on the cheeks before she pushed open the church door. "Hello?" she asked. It was as big on the inside as it was on the outside. It was creepily silent and the only light came from the moon that strained through the huge stain glass windows over her head. The source of the prana was close, she sensed. It was in here somewhere.

She took a deep breath and stepped into the church. Nothing. Not a soul moved or spoke. She made it to the pew and looked around, her ears on full alert. The source of the prana was close but she still could not locate it exactly. Where was it?

A footstep rang out from behind.

Hikaru whirled around. There was a man with short blond hair, the color of gold, leaning in the doorway she had walked in from. No. Based on the prana radiating off of him and the way he made her skin crawl, this guy was not human. The prana was close to what she was following but at the same time it was vastly different in a way she could not put her finger on. His crimson eyes stared at her in amusement but Hikaru did not feel comforted by that. The way he was looking at her made her skin crawl.

"Well, well, look what…" He trailed off in mid-sentence and they narrowed as he seemed to ponder something as he stared at her for what seemed like forever. A smile lit up his face and he began walking over to her in a fast stride.

Instinctively Hikaru reinforced her arms and legs. Once he was in range, her leg shot out to kick him. He reacted immediately, dodging her blow and at the same time moving closer to her.

"You haven't lost your spark at all," he laughed.

What? Hikaru punched but he dodged that as well. She kicked and punched but he just dodged every single blow. He didn't even bother blocking, like he knew that if he did get hit he would probably go flying from the strength behind the attack.

He reached out and grabbed her wrist. He couldn't hold onto it long as she swung her leg low to try to trip him. He backed up a few steps until he was out of range.

"Alright, we can stop this dance now," he said with a laugh as chains seemed to come out of nowhere and wrap around her arms and legs, promptly pinning her in place.

Hikaru tugged against the chains but even with her reinforcement she could not break free of them. "Who are you?" she snapped as she glared at the golden man head on. There was no way she was going to show fear to this guy, whatever he was. Inwardly though she scrambled through ideas to break free from the chains.

He ignored her question as he approached her. "Don't worry my Queen. I would never want to do this to you if there was no other way to make you listen."

Queen? What the hell was he talking about? Before she could protest and question what he was saying, he leaned in close to her face. Before she could headbutt him, he had pressed his lips against hers.

She could feel something slid down her throat as he kissed her. It was like water but it wasn't. At the same time, the chains around her arms and legs released her. She couldn't even think about attacking him as a sharp pain tore through her left hand.

He stepped back as she clutched her left hand tightly against her chest as she crumpled to the ground. "What the hell did you do to me!?" she snapped as she struggled to blink back tears. Her hand was on fire to the point that all she wanted to do was cut it off.

He did not say anything but put his hands in his pockets and look down at her with curiosity. "Huh, I never thought the favor I got from _her_ would be this powerful."

What the hell was he talking about?

The pain was now subsiding and Hikaru checked her hand, afraid it would be burned or worse. No. It looked completely fine. Except now there was a red tattoo-like marking on the back of her hand. She sucked in a deep breath in shock. No way. It couldn't be. She had read about this in books but this couldn't be rubbed the markings a few times but it would not go away.

"Command seals…" she whispered, finally admitting to what they were. She gazed up at the man who had kissed her and somehow given the seals to her. "But how…What…what are you?"

"Gilgamesh. What are you doing?"

Hikaru turned to see a priest near the pew. If this golden man give her the creeps, this guy just reeked of it. There was something _wrong_ with the way his cold eyes gazed at her. They weren't malice-filled per-say but they did not make her feel welcome.

"We're done Kotomine," said the man, Gilgamesh, in boredom. He held out a hand for Hikaru. She stared at the hand and then at the priest. She scrambled to her feet and Gilgamesh put an arm around her. "I'm going with my Queen now." He grinned. "The _eighth_ Master in the Grail War."

"Woah, woah what!?" cried Hikaru. She reinforced her arms and pulled away from him. It couldn't be. She should have connected that fact when she saw the command seals but a part of her did not want to believe it. "Eighth Master!? Holy Grail War!? I'm not supposed to be in the War!" Her mind flash backed to that time ten years ago. The city torn apart, the dead bodies, the wreckage, the crying. Her chest ached at the thought. No. She could not be a part of any War.

"Gilgamesh, that is impossible," the priest said calmly. "The Grail can only have seven."

"Well, this one has eight," Gilgamesh replied. His eyes narrowed. "And I have gladly become her Servant in this War."

There was more underlying that statement than what was on the surface, Hikaru could tell. The priest sighed and stepped back, whatever fight in him was gone. Or he knew there was no point in fighting."Do what you will."

Gilgamesh turned to Hikaru and put one arm around her shoulder as he began leading her out of the church. She didn't even resist. Between Gilgamesh and that priest, golden-boy looked like the lesser of two evils. Once they were outside though, Hikaru released everything that had been pent up.

"What the hell are you talking about!?" she snapped as she pulled away from him. Why it did seem like he kept on touching her? She rubbed the command seals on her left hand but no matter how hard she rubbed the seals would not go away. "Get this stupid thing off of me. I don't know how you were able to do this without my permission but I _refuse_ to be a Master in this Holy Grail War crap!"

Gilgamesh stared at her in confusion. "What are you talking about Hikaru?"

"How in the world do you know my name!?" Nothing seemed to make sense anymore. She had started the day in order to get an answer to the prana spikes in the city but she never expected it would end up like this. "Never mind." She held out her left hand. "Remove them. Remove these command seals at once. You can't force me to become a Master in this War if I don't want to be, right?" She couldn't remember the rules exactly but that was correct right?

Gilgamesh stared at her hand and then at her. His red eyes seemed genuinely confused. "My Queen, what are you talking about?" He held his head high. "You should be honored that I have chosen you to become my Master in this War. You are the only one that I accept as my Master and Queen."

Hikaru shook her head. What the hell was wrong with this guy!? "No. I don't want to be a Master. I don't want to be a...Queen!" She held up her hand for him to look at. "Plus how in the world did you even do this!? I know that…" She shivered at the thought of him kissing her and rubbed her lips with her hand. "…I know that it is impossible to make someone a Master that way." She blinked. Her head was starting to ache slightly. Great. On top of everything she was getting a headache. This day could not get any worse.

Gilgamesh shrugged. "A certain _someone_ owed me a favor in return for causing me trouble. I decided to use it now." She felt a chill go up her spine as he stared at her like she was prey.

"How in the world do you know me?" she asked, trying to stay on task. "And why do you keep calling me your 'Queen'?" The headache was now getting worse. She blinked and shook her head as she tried to focus her thoughts.

"Because you are my Queen," he replied simply.

"What kind of response is that?" she snapped.

He smiled. "And you are fiery like always."

She paused. The way he had said and that look in his eyes. It was like he was remembering something from long ago. "How do you know me?" she repeated. She blinked and rubbed her eyes. Why did Gilgamesh suddenly seem so blurry? She struggled to grasp onto her thoughts. What in the world did he do to her?

He took a step towards her and caught her before she fell. "What the heck did you do?" Her tongue felt so heavy as she struggled to keep her eyes open.

"This is just a side effect. Don't worry. Sleep now my Queen." He kissed her forehead as her eyes closed and the darkness took her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Really happy I managed to get Chapter 2 out before November. I'm going to be participating in NaNoWriMo so there is a high chance that no new chapters will be released until December(I am sorry in advance if that ends up being the case with how I ended this chapter...)**

* * *

It hurt.

It hurt so much.

She tried to move but she was pinned to the ground. Around her, the city burned. She could hear screaming, sobbing, praying, voices. So many voices. So many voices falling silent as well. Or was she just imagining there were voices around her?

Smoke curled its way into the sky, blocking her view of the stars. Were the stars even there or were they gone forever?

Tired.

She was so tired. It hurt, it hurt too much. She closed her eyes. She was just so tired…

* * *

Hikaru awoke to the annoying ringing of her alarm clock. She hit it as hard as she could to shut off the sound. Morning already? She sat up and pressed her hands to her chest. It's been forever since she had a dream of that day.

She ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. What a lovely thing to wake up to. She saw a flash of red out of the corner of her eye. She paused and moved her hand so she could see what it was. A red tattoo embedded on the back of her left hand.

She clutched her head as the events from last night rushed into her brain. "Grail War…" she murmured. She touched her lips as thought of the blond man. "Gilgamesh…"

Wait a minute.

How the hell did she get back home?

She jumped out of bed and noticed she was wearing her sleeping clothes. Realizing that she needed to hurry up so she could be ready for school and grill Aunt Nomi about what the heck happened, she quickly ran through her morning routine.

"Aunt Nomi!" she yelled as she took the stairs two at a time. Once she reached the dining room she froze.

Sitting at the table was her aunt with breakfast laid out. Yes, that was slightly abnormal, as usually Nomi would be sitting at the table crying about being hungry and how Hikaru should hurry up with breakfast. What she was focused on though was who was sitting across from Nomi. Golden boy. They were talking in a very civilized manner. Nomi was laughing at something Gilgamesh said. It seemed way too surreal.

Hikaru backed out of the room, rubbed her eyes and stepped back into the room again. Damn. He was still there.

She couldn't make a hasty retreat this time as Gilgamesh had noticed her. "There you are. I was going to wake you soon." The way he was looking at her made her doubt that he was just going to shake her to try to get her up.

"What did you do to me last night?" she snapped in response. It was probably better to just get right to the point.

"Oh come on Hikaru, lighten up. It's too early in the morning to get this angry."

Hikaru stared at Aunt Nomi in disbelief. "Aunt Nomi. This guy-"

"He's a great fellow. I mean he brought you home last night after you collapsed and explained to me what is going on. I can't believe you entered the Grail War without telling me. I mean-I know I'm out of the magus loop but you could have at _least_ told me you were going to be doing something so dangerous."

Hikaru opened and closed her mouth like a fish She could not believe this. "What did you do to my aunt!?" she snapped.

"I did nothing to her my Queen. Just relayed your current situation. She was kind enough to lend me the spare room-oh and she has excellent taste in wine."

Nomi gave Gilgamesh a thumbs up. "I never met someone as into wine as me!"

This could not be happening. Not only had this guy forced her to become a Grail War participant, he had won over her aunt!

"Like I told you before, I am not doing the Grail War!" That was going to become her catch phrase by the end of the week at this rate. "Aunt Nomi. You need to believe me. This guy is…" She couldn't even think of the words to describe him. He was just so infuriating!

"Don't worry. She will warm up in time. She's always very prickly to people she doesn't know," informed Nomi as she stood. "Well anyway, you two love birds have fun. I need to head out to work. Don't get into too much trouble okay?"

Hikaru really did not like how Nomi winked at the end of her sentence. "Aunt Nomi-"

"Not listening!" sang Nomi as she skipped out of the room.

Why couldn't her aunt ever be serious!? She sighed and made her way over to the table and picked up a piece of toast. Unfortunately this brought her into Gilgamesh's range. He reached out and put an arm around her waist and drew her towards him.

"Let me go!" she snapped, as she pulled away from him. He didn't resist but he was giving her that stupid amused smile again. She needed to get out of here and fast before she punched something. "I'm going to school now." It was a bit early but she knew she could kill some time at the convenience store on the way.

"What are you doing? You are not coming with me!" she cried when Gilgamesh stood.

"My Queen, you are a Grail War participant," he began.

She didn't need to hear anymore to know where he was going with that. She massaged the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath. "I know I am-even though I don't want to be. Since I'm not going to be doing anything Grail related there is no point in you coming with me." Plus she didn't know how she could manage a day of school with him breathing down her neck. "So I am going to school alone," she finished.

A grin broke out on her servant's face. "Alright then. You may go to school alone."

She was getting even more irked now that it seemed like he was giving her permission to leave. "Well, I was going to go alone anyway," she grumbled as she turned to leave. A yelp of surprise escaped her throat as he suddenly grabbed her wrist, pulled her towards him and kissed her. Before she could register what he was doing and react, he had released her and took a couple steps back so he was out of her direct range. And of course he had his stupid, devilish grin on his face.

Face burning; she turned away from him so he would not see how much that had surprised her. "I'm leaving now," she snapped with as much venom as possible. She could hear him laughing as she stormed out of the kitchen and to the front door.

* * *

Hikaru crossed the school gate and sighed. She had been paranoid that Gilgamesh would have followed her even though he said he wouldn't. From her few glances back, she was thankful she had not seen golden-boy. Especially after that kiss...

She wiped her lips with the back of her hand. Ugh. She knew enough of the Grail War to know that what he was doing would not be considered normal. She looked around to make sure he didn't appear due to her thinking about him.

"I'm getting way too paranoid," she murmured under her breath.

"Hey, Hikaru-chan."

Hikaru turned her head to the voice. "Oh, hey Shirou."

Shirou Emiya shifted his school bag over his shoulder. "Is your hand okay?"

"Huh?" Hikaru looked down to see what he was talking about. Oh yeah. She had bandaged up her left hand in order to hide the command seals on it. "This is nothing." She held her hand to her chest. "Just had a rough night. Stupid things happened. Very…stupid things. You look a bit tired too. Had a long night?"

"Uh yeah." Shirou sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "I had a pretty long rough night too."

"Well hopefully we both will have better nights tonight," Hikaru replied with a laugh. She paused in mid-laugh as Rin Tohsaka passed by with a curious look at both of them.

Hikaru's eyes narrowed slightly. Well then. One thing made sense now, like why Rin transferred in at an odd time in the semester. She was from one of the big three magus houses involved in the Grail War. She would bet Gilgamesh's golden hair that Rin was a participant. She chided herself a moment later. What the hell was she doing? Why did it matter who the participants were since she was not participating herself? However, it was probably a good idea to know so she could know to stay away from them…

"Hikaru-chan?"

Hikaru blinked and broke out of her thoughts. Ack! It looked like Shirou had said something and was waiting for her response. "Sorry. I'm still a bit tired from last night." She lightly hit her head. "I'm a ditz at this kind of stuff."

"Hikaruuuuuuuuuu!"

Hikaru almost fell over as Nagisa glomped her from behind.

"I'll talk to you later," Shirou said with a laugh.

Hikaru waved goodbye before glaring at her friend who had finally let go.

"Come now Nagisa, you interrupted them," spoke Yumi as she joined the two girls.

"Oh dang it!" Nagisa facepalmed. "I ruined everything!"

Hikaru rolled her eyes. "How many times do I need to tell you guys that we are just acquaintances? We were just in the same class last year, that's all."

"But he made you feel better after you broke up with you-know-who. Obviously there is something there!" Nagisa pointed out. Hikaru winced as Yumi elbowed Nagisa in the stomach. "OW! Ack! Sorry Hikaru! I forgot that you-know-you is off talking limits-" Nagisa covered her stomach with her arms and jumped a few steps away so Yumi couldn't elbow her again. "Sorry! Again!"

"Don't worry about it really. I'm over it," Hikaru put in quickly to save Nagisa from another elbow in the stomach.

"But still…" Nagisa began with a frown.

The warning bell rang, cutting off whatever else Nagisa was going to say.

Hikaru sighed inwardly for small miracles. "Come on. Let's get to class before we get in trouble."

* * *

"You better not be ditching us again." Nagisa was at Hikaru's desk even before Souichirou-sensei had left the room. He gave Nagisa an annoyed look(although his face did not seem to chance expression) before he was gone.

"Well…" began Hikaru.

"Are you serious!? I swear, you don't like us anymore Hikaru." Nagisa brushed away a fake tear.

"Now now Nagisa." Yumi patted Nagisa on the back. "Don't be upset."

"But Hikaru is so mean!" wailed Nagisa.

Hikaru rolled her eyes and got up. "I have an extra credit thing to do."

"And now extra credit! You are too much of a goodie two-shoe!" Nagisa huffed.

"Don't worry about her," Yumi said as Nagisa stormed away.

"I won't. She'll forget about being mad in another five minutes. She's like a goldfish that way." She grabbed her schoolbag. "I'm heading for the library. See you two later." With that final farewell, she was out of the classroom and she made her way to the school library on the first floor.

Once she got there, she snagged the computer in the room. Sure she could have done this at home but she didn't want Gilgamesh looking over her shoulder. The first thing she looked up was everything she could about Gilgamesh according to legends. If she was going to be stuck with a guy like him, she wanted to know everything about him that did not come directly out of his mouth. After she searched up and memorized as much as she could (she was not going to risk writing any of it down) she went to her usual websites to check if there had been any more gas leaks recently. Nothing.

"There is no point in doing this," she murmured as she shut down the computer when she was done. Now she knew why those gas leaks were happening in the city there was no point in tracking them anymore. She frowned as she thought about it. Before, when she didn't know she had wanted to get to the bottom of it and possibly solve the problem but now that she knew, solving the problem was the last thing on her mind.

"Ugh. Whatever," she muttered as she left the library. She was in there longer than she thought she would be. The hallway was empty and only a select few clubs ran this late. "Guess I should head home now…" She hated to admit it to herself but she did not want to go home and deal with Gilgamesh. What was the chance of him leaving her alone for the rest of the day?

"Slim to none," she answered as she lifted her bandaged hand. She had not doubts that her command seals were still there. "Maybe I could command him to remove the seals and leave me alone…"

She paused when she saw movement near the stairs. It was Shinji Matou, looking very suspicious as he walked up the flight of stairs to the second floor.

Hikaru frowned. Sure Shinji was a creep and his attitude annoyed the heck out of her but this seemed suspicious even for him. What in the world was he doing in the school this late anyway?

Wait a minute.

"Matou…" she murmured as she followed him up the flight of stairs. When she made it to the top he was (very suspiciously) going up to the third floor.

Why in the world was she bothering to follow him? Since he was a Matou that probably meant he was in the Grail War…or was it his sister Sakura? However she could not picture sweet Sakura getting involved in something like this. Looks could be deceiving though…

She blinked in surprise as Shinji took the final flight of stairs up to the roof. Seriously suspicious now.

Hikaru waited until she heard the roof door slam shut before she hurried up the final flight of stairs. She put her hand on the doorknob and paused. Did she really want to know what he was doing? It was probably for the best if she turned around right now and pretend she didn't see anything. However, if he was a Grail War participant, he was probably doing a dirty trick to make his Servant stronger at the cost of lives or something else along those lines.

"Guess I never learn," she sighed as she pushed open the door.

Shinji was kneeling on the ground but he jumped up in surprise and whirled around when he heard the door open. The look on his face told her everything.

Hikaru sighed again and ran her fingers through her hair. "Really? I hate being right…"

"You…you were in my class last year."

"Sheesh Shinji. Nice to know that you don't remember me. I'm from a minor magus house but still."

"Wait…you are a magus!?"

She had to facepalm at that one. Sure she had kept it a secret but still! She was a magus on all the records and she had not changed her last name or anything like that to keep it a secret. "Yes Shinji. I'm from a magus, from the Kishinami household. Yes, I am the last one from that household. And you are from the Matou household along with Sakura. Yay. Now that we got that out of the way…" She crossed her arms. "So what would a magus from a high-end household be doing up here looking very suspicious?"

"It's none of your business," stated Shinji. "You're from such a minor household that this does not concern you at all. Maybe if you turn around now I will let you get away with not a scratch on you. How does that sound?"

Why wasn't she surprised that Shinji would not give her a straight answer. "Alright then…" She massaged the bridge of her nose. She was going to regret finishing her statement but she continued. "I'm going to bet a thousand yen that this has something to do with the Grail War?"

Shinji's expression went from shocked to back to his smug grin in record time. "So what if I am?" he said slowly.

Uh oh. Maybe she shouldn't have put it like that. "Hang on." She put up her hand. "I am not a participant-well technically I am but I'm doing this Grail War thing. I was just-"

He didn't seem to be listening to anything she was saying. "Rider."

Hikaru heard something move through the air. She swung her body out of the way as a nail-like dagger on the end of a long chain sailed past her. She wasn't able to dodge it completely as it nicked her cheek as it passed by.

She saw a flash of purple and a woman standing on top of the gate that surrounded the edge of the roof as she whirled around and jumped down the stairs to the third floor. "Me and my big mouth! I just _had_ to see what he was up to," she muttered as she jumped over the banister and down another flight of stairs. "I'm not a participant, just a bystander," she repeated to herself as she used the bannister again to jump down from the second floor flight of stairs to the first.

She ran for the entrance but stopped right before she passed the shoe lockers and backed up a few steps. Going out there would be suicide. She would be a sitting duck for Rider if the Servant was still outside.

She dove left as Rider's dagger buried into the floor where she was a moment before.

"Damn it!" she yelled as she rolled to her feet and took off running. She entered the nearest classroom and slammed the door closed and locked it.

What the hell was she going to do!? Fighting a Servant was out of her league. She looked down at her left hand and removed the bandages. Her command seals stared back at her. Damn it! Was this the only choice she had left?

Hearing a noise in hallway, she ran to the window and reinforced her body as she shoved her weight against the window. The window shattered from the impact and she rolled to her feet and took off running to the school gate. "Like hell I am going to call-"

She cried out as something wrapped around her foot and yanked backwards. Her head painfully smacked against the ground. She looked back and saw a chain was wrapped around her foot.

"You're not much of a magus are you?" laughed Shinji as he approached her with a sinister grin on his face.


	3. Chapter 3

**Well guys, guess what? I was able to churn out a chapter during NaNoWriMo after all! ^-^ So great news for you, you don't have to wait until December to learn what happens next. As for the Guest that said this story should be rated "M", well I know that Gil's a perv but I am going to try to keep this story rated "T" despite Gil's character. A lot of suggesting might be in the future. XD But anyone, enough of that, enjoy the chapter.**

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Hikaru glared up at Shinji, her mind whirling to think of a plan to get out of the predicament she was in.

He was staring down at her with that stupid, smug grin on his face. Next to him was Rider. She was holding one end of the chain dagger as she looked down at Hikaru. Although her eyes were covered by that weird blindfold, Hikaru had no doubt that if she tried to escape, Rider would react faster than Hikaru would.

"I told you," snapped Hikaru as she slowly moved to try to sit up so at least she would not look as undignified as she already was. She froze as Rider's attention focused solely on her and Hikaru decided that lying in the dirt was a good idea at the moment. "I told you," she began again. "Yes, I am technically a participant but no, I am not doing this War business. I was just thrown in as a Master with no say whatsoever so there is no reason for us to fight at all. I don't give a damn about this War."

"She might be telling the truth. No Servant has come to her rescue and she still has all three of her command seals," spoke up Rider.

"Hmmm." Shinji's eyes narrowed as he stared at her in a way that made her feel very, very uncomfortable. "But you still have a Servant don't you? Maybe if you give me your Servant then I might let you go."

"Trust me. You don't want my Servant." Hikaru rolled her eyes. With Gilgamesh's attitude, there was no way Shinji could handle him.

Of course that was the wrong thing to say as Shinji's expression darkened. She felt a slight tugging on her foot and her eyes flickered over to Rider. She thought about the chances of reinforcing her leg, break the chain and make a dash for it. Very, very slim she knew.

"Look Shinji," she began as she slowly sat up and thankfully, this time, Rider let her do it. "My Servant is very different from yours. He does what he wants and doesn't listen to me at all. He also tends to engage in…inappropriate behavior. But anyway, the point of this is that he is way too difficult to handle and you should give up on that prospect and just let me go because I have no interest in the stupid Grail."

The more she spoke, the less, she thought, Shinji believed her.

"Well obviously you aren't much of a magus," laughed Shinji. "Why don't you just summon your Servant and we shall see about that? I should able to handle your Servant just fine."

Ugh. Shinji's cocky attitude made her want to punch him the face. That was ill advised at the moment sadly. She glanced down at the command seals on the back of her left hand. No way. Nope. She was not going to call him. Glaring at Shinji she curled her hands into fists. "Sorry but I'm not going to summon him for you."

Shinji's face darkened. "Well then. I think I need to make you summon him."

She refused to show fear on her face as she continued to glare at Shinji. Her eyes flickered to Rider. The Servant had the other end of the nail-dagger in hand. Hikaru's eyes went back to Shinji as she calculated if there was a chance she could give him a good pounding before Rider got to her. Yup. She could do that. Maybe not an actual pounding, but one good punch would be good enough for her. Right in the jaw so he wouldn't be able to eat correctly for a while. And perhaps lose a couple teeth. That would be great too!

Rider took a step towards Hikaru with the dagger in hand but stopped after just one step.

"What's wrong Rider?" snapped Shinji. "Teach her a lesson!"

"You must be her Servant," said Rider.

It was then that Hikaru noticed the crackling of prana in the air. She turned her head to the direction Rider was "looking". There he was, Gilgamesh, her Servant. His hands were in his pant pockets and he looked like he was out for a nice, relaxing stroll. Well, everything but his crimson eyes that seemed to be blazing with the intensity of a thousand suns.

"I was wondering what was taking you so long to get home my Queen so I came to look for you." His eyes looked down to Rider's chain around Hikaru's leg. "I will have you know that the only one allowed to tie up my Queen up is me."

He would. "Really now!?" she snapped. "I'm currently at risk for dying and you had to make a comment like that!?"

A grin spread across his face but wasn't his devilish playful grin. Instead it looked downright malicious. "In any situation your comments amuse me."

Ugh. Why did it have to be him? She would rather face Rider single-handed right now.

"Release my Queen this instant and I will make your death quick and painful."

Hikaru thought she could see the sweat coming off of Shinji. He wanted to save face but at the same time he could feel the prana radiating off of her Servant. Even Hikaru could tell that Gilgamesh was on a different level than Rider.

"H...Ha! I'm not scared of you!" He crossed his arms. "You are all talk. You are nothing compared to Rider's power!"

Hikaru had to give Shinji props for trying to stand up to Gilgamesh. Especially when those blazing red eyes turned on him. Whoops never mind, Shinji was wilting under her Servant's gaze.

"I was trying to be generous but maybe I should end your life slowly after all." A golden portal opened up behind Gilgamesh and a bunch of swords began coming through it. "You will feel the wrath of the Gates of Babylon!"

Hikaru whirled around so she was fully facing her Servant as her neck was starting to hurt from craning it back to look at him. "Gilgamesh. Really now. You don't have to do…whatever you are doing…" She trailed off as Gilgamesh's eyes darkened further(which Hikaru thought was impossible at this point).

"You dare scar my Queen?" he snarled.

Hikaru's hand went up to her cheek where Rider had nicked it before. It was still bleeding but it wasn't anything serious. He was furious over a scratch on her face?

She was jerked backwards as Rider pulled on the chain around her leg and she flew back into the Servant's arms. She wrapped one arm around Hikaru's shoulders to hold her in place and held the other end of the dagger against Hikaru's throat.

"H…h…ha! What are you going to do now? Your Master will die if you try anything!" Shinji jumped closer to Rider as Gilgamesh glared at him.

Hikaru's eyes focused on the blade that was lightly pressed her throat and swallowed slowly. It seemed like her situation could always get worse. How was she going to get out of this one? She didn't know how Gilgamesh was going to use those weapons that were coming out of the portal but she didn't doubt that Rider's knife thrust would be faster.

"I told you before that I'm not participating. There is no point for this fight," she protested.

Rider didn't seem interested in her plea as she continued to keep her dagger against Hikaru's throat.

"You will not harm my Queen."

Rider's arm jerked away from Hikaru's neck. Without thinking, Hikaru used the moment to slam her elbow backwards, coupled with reinforcement, into Rider's stomach. Feeling the grip on her shoulders slacken, Hikaru threw herself forward and rolled to her feet. Near Gilgamesh now, but thankfully not close enough that he could touch her, she looked back and saw Rider was pinned in place by chains. The chains came out of small portals that looked the same as the portal behind Gilgamesh. Hang on. Those chains looked like the ones that had tied up Hikaru last night!

"Rider! What are you doing!" cried Shinji.

Rider tested the chains but they would not budge.

Gilgamesh was grinning as the sword behind him shot forward and pierced Rider. "This is what happens when you touch my Queen!"

Hikaru just stared in horror as Rider was pierced over and over by the swords shooting out of the Gate. Rider could do nothing but take it. The chains kept her from moving as Gilgamesh continued hurling swords at her over and over.

As fast as it had begun, it was over. Rider was beginning to fade away. Gilgamesh had won the battle in under a minute.

Shinji fell to the ground in fear as Gilgamesh's eyes settled on him.

"Woah, woah, hang on minute." Hikaru stepped in between Gilgamesh and Shinji. She finally understood how ridiculously powerful her Servant was. No wonder the air around him felt so different as compared to Rider. And she had been fighting against him this whole time. There was no time to be thinking about that now though. If she didn't do anything Shinji was going to be a goner like Rider.

"My Queen, that vile mongrel has tried to kill you." He took a step towards her and reached out for her and with surprising tenderness touched her cut cheek. "That mongrel is responsible for scarring your face. He is trying to ruin your perfection."

Perfection? Hikaru bit her lip and backed up a step so he could not touch her anymore. "What you are doing was uncalled for. I am not participating in the War and you made it so Shinji no longer has a chance-"

She heard Shinji laugh from behind as he got to his feet. "I knew we were friends Hikaru. We didn't talk much but-"

"Just get out of here Shinji," she snapped. Today had been a long day and she was really getting tired of everything.

Shinji, thankfully, took the cue and bid a hasty retreat.

"There is a chance he could get another Servant." Gilgamesh pointed out. "However I like your style. Let them escape and then completely crush them if they come back again."

Yeah sure. Let's go with that. She was not in the mood to argue anymore. She massaged the bridge of her nose as she walked over to the window she had broken. "Well, there's no fixing this…" Hopefully no one else had witnessed her escape. She couldn't afford to pay for a broken window right now.

"Where are you going my Queen?" asked Gilgamesh when Hikaru climbed back into the school. She was careful to avoid the pieces of broken glass that were still stuck to the window pane.

"I'm getting my school bag," she explained. She had dropped it on the roof in her mad dash to get away from Rider. She didn't hear Gilgamesh's response but she really hoped he would stay outside.

She left the classroom and headed for the stairs. The sound of footsteps behind her made her sigh. "You didn't have to follow me," she replied.

"I had to make sure my Queen is safe. That mongrel might still be about. He could try to push you off of the roof."

The roof was surrounded on all sides by a high fence so that was not happening. Plus she highly doubted in a one-on-one fight she would lose to him. Whatever, she was already exhausted for the day, she was no longer in the mood to fight Gilgamesh.

Once she made it to the roof, she found her bag a couple feet away from the door next the fence. "I have a good arm," she commented as she walked over and picked up her bag.

She turned and jumped slightly. Gilgamesh was right behind her. He reached out and held onto the fence behind her with both arms on either side of her head. She backed up with her back pressed against the chain links.

"Seriously?" she snapped as she glared up at him. Long day aside, did he really need to try something now?

He released one hand from the fence and gently rubbed the blood off of her cheek. "Why haven't you healed this?" he asked softly.

"What are you talking about?" Her healing? Really now. He was expecting too much of her. Where in the world did he even get that idea?

"You can't heal," he murmured under his breath. He was looking past her as he seemed to be thinking of something.

She grabbed his hand with her own to pull it away from her while he was distracted. He returned his attention to her (much to her dismay) pulled his hand out of hers and grabbed her wrist. He stared at her hand for a couple of seconds before bringing it to his lips and he lightly kissed the palm of her hand.

"Wh…what the hell are you doing!?" She tried to pull her wrist out of his grasp but his grip on it tightened.

"Being with my Queen of course," he said as he leaned in close to her face. It was then that she was painfully aware of how close he was to her and he was still trying to get closer.

"Stop it," she snapped as she lowered her head so he couldn't attempt to kiss her. "This is way out of your jurisdiction as a Servant isn't it? Don't as a Master, I have a say in this kind of stuff?"

"Well I don't view you as a Master, especially at a time like this."

She could feel her heart pounding in her ear as she looked up at him. The way he was looking at her, the way he was watching her, it conveyed something that she could not put her finger on. It seemed…familiar though. Why? And why was she suddenly getting so nervous? "Stop it," she murmured, as she forced her eyes to the ground. His shoes were almost touching hers and again she was hit by how close he was. "Just stop it." She shut her eyes.

He sighed and released the fence and gently held her left hand in both of his. His thumbs ran over the command seals on the back of her left hand. "You should have called me, he murmured.

What? She opened her eyes in surprise. He was still standing so stifling close to her but his attention was on her left hand. "I didn't need help," she murmured.

"Always so independent," he said with a small grin as he looked up at her again. "However," he began and Hikaru suddenly felt stifled again. His grip on her hand tightened. "Rider would have killed you and I cannot have that."

"Well it turned out fine didn't it," she replied under her breath. Yes, thinking back on it, that probably wasn't the best idea of hers but what was happening right now was the reason why she didn't want Gilgamesh around. Stuff like this happened and now that she was thinking about it, she wasn't reacting how she normally would at all. She shut her eyes again as she realized why. She could picture Rider being impaled over and over by those weapons and those chains. He had used them to pin her in place in their first meeting. Who was to say he would not do that now? She was powerless even though she had tried to fight against him. What was to prevent him from doing something like that now?

"You're shaking," he commented.

Was she? Damn it. She needed to stop over thinking. Obviously he hasn't used those chains on her after the first time despite all of the kicking and screaming she had done against him. She sensed him move and she stiffened. Great. Was he going to try to kiss her again?

Nothing of that sort happened. Instead, she could feel his fingers run through her hair gently.

She opened her eyes in surprise again. The gesture was so sweet and seemed so unlike him. "Gilgamesh?" she asked.

He stared at her for a few seconds before he released her hair and took a couple steps back to give her space. "I would never force you to do anything you don't want to," he stated. "Well, besides stealing a few kisses from my Queen of course!"

Jeez. She sighed. What was she going to do with him? Only he could totally turn the mood of a situation around that fast. She moved away from the chain-link fence since she had the space now. She put a hand to her chest. "Why am I your Queen in the first place?" she asked. "I don't even know you. I have never met you before."

He smiled at her like he expected her to just know the answer. "You will understand in time. Let's go home my Queen. You seem tired." He grinned. "Why don't I help you sleep tonight?"

"I veto that," she huffed with a roll of her eyes. Fine. He wasn't going to tell her yet but she would find out soon, that was for sure. There was no way he was goigng to be able to hide it from her forever! She began walking towards the door to the roof but paused and glanced back. It felt like someone was watching her. When she didn't see anything, she cast out her senses but there was no prana signature anywhere.

"My Queen?"

Hikaru shook her head. It was probably nothing. She focused her attention back on Gilgamesh and headed for the door. "It's nothing. Let's go."


End file.
